The play Kanjinchô
(The Subscription Record) was brought to its present form and popularity
by the actor portrayed in this print, Ichikawa Danjûrô IX
(1839-1903), who was one of the key figures in the move to modernise Kabuki
performance in the Meiji era (1868-1911). Like the actor Onoe Kikugorô,
who appeared in a print of similar format issued in the same year, Danjûrô
was a friend of Yoshitoshi. This print was published in advance of the
performance of Kanjinchô at the Shintomi Theatre in Edo
from the 22nd of the fifth month of 1890.

The plot is taken from an episode
in the life of Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his loyal follower, the warrior-priest
Musashibô Benkei at the end of the 12th century. Their story was
told in the Heike Monogatari (Tale of the Heike) and the Gikeiki
(Story of Yoshitsune), and retold many times in plays and prints.

To escape capture, Yoshitsune
and his followers disguise themselves as itinerant priests raising funds
for a temple. When they reach the government barrier at Ataka, the suspicious
warden demands that Benkei reads the list of donors on the subscription
record. Benkei takes out an empty scroll and recites an imaginary list
of donors and amounts. The warden is taken in by this ruse, and he allows
the party through the barrier. In Yoshitoshi's print, Benkei is about
to unroll the scroll, which he holds in his hand. It is a critical moment
of dramatic tension.

In 1890, at the end of his career,
Yoshitoshi made five such large-scale half-length portraits of famous
Kabuki actors in triptych format; they are generally considered among
his masterpieces. This print forms a pair with another published in 01/1890,
showing Yoshitoshi's other great actor friend, Onoe Kikugorô V,
in a role from a different play performed in 04/1890.